Rabbit or animal toilet



May 10, 1949. w. QUINN RABBIT OR ANIMAL TOILET Filed July 7, 1944ATTORNEY Patented May 10, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RABBIT ORANIMAL TOILET William Quinn, New York, N. Y.

Application July 7, 1944, Serial No. 543,849

21 Claims. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a hygienicrabbit or animal toilet.

More specifically, the invention proposes the construction of an animaltoilet, such as a toilet for a rabbit hutch, characterized by a receiverfor animal excreta and a seat for the animal provided with a holeopening into the receiver and a slanting fioor directed downwardlytoward the hole.

Still further it is proposed to provide a toilet as aforesaid havingmeans for removably securing the toilet seat to the receiver.

Still further it is proposed to provide a toilet of the aforementionedtype in which the receiver has a bottom wall slanting oppositely to theslanting seat floor.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a hygienic animal toilet constructed inaccordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a central section of the toilet taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the receiver, per se.

Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of the seat, per

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. '7 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing the toilet constructed inaccordance with a modification of this invention.

Fig. 8 is an inverted plan of the seat of Fig. 7.

The animal toilet, constructed in accordance with this invention,comprises a receiver I and a seat member I I removably secured thereto.The receiver I0 is of round dish-shape and includes a bottom wall I2 andan upstanding cylindrical wall I3 formed on the upper edge thereof withthree equidistant dove-tail tongues I4, each tongue I4 being curvedconcentric with the wall I3 and being relatively short in length.

Seat member II has a floor I surrounded for the greater part of itscircumference by an upstanding wall IB. Wall I6 at the rear reaches itsgreatest height and from this point slants downwardly toward the frontwhere it blends into the floor I5 leaving a narrow entrance way I1.

A hole I8 is formed in the floor I5 and opens into the receiver I0.Floor I5 has a top face I9 which slants rearwardly toward the hole I8.

Three equidistant rectangular recesses 20 are formed in the bottom faceof the floor I5, and a dove-tail groove 2| extends from each of theserecesses. Recesses 2|] are adapted to mate with tongues I4 so that seatmember II may rest securely on the top edge of the receiver I0. Byrotating the seat member I I relative to the receiver ID the tongues canbe caused to move into the grooves 2|, thereby removably securing theseat member I I to the receiver I0 so that they form a unit which can bepicked up as one piece, and which will not become separated by antics ofthe animals in the cage in which the unit is used.

The operation of this form of device is as follows:

It is well known that a rabbit living in a hutch will make a habit ofexcreting his body wastes in one corner of the hutch. This has thedisadvantage of wetting the hutch, making it dirty, carrying disease,and smelling and infecting other and adjacent hutches, especially ahutch in a tier immediately beneath the hutch in question. The presentinvention is directed toward providing a toilet which may be disposed insuch a corner, the toilet being constructed to be hygienic and to beattractive to the rabbit and therefore to be utilized by it.

The toilet aforedescribed is so designed as to automatically operatecorrectly with dumb animals. It is well known that a rabbit is attractedto a nest or any similar retreat or shelter in a hutch. Very often arabbit in a hutch will seek shelter in a feeding dish or the like. Thepresent toilet is provided with an entrance way I'I opposite the openingI8, the rest of the toilet being surrounded by the wall I6. Thus arabbit entering the toilet must enter through the entrance way I'I. Itis natural with rabbits to always sit facingthe opening of the retreatin which they have sought shelter. This is an inherent trait of rabbitsand it is taken advantage of here so that when the rabbit is sitting onthe seat member II, his excretory organs will be disposed in thevicinity of the hole I8. Thus his excreta, both urine and pellets, willbe dropped through the hole I8 into the receiver I0 which will be largeenough to take several days excreta. The receiver forms an idealreceptacle for pellets and urine,' preventing contamination of thehutch-and providing simple means for 001- lecting the pellets for use asfertilizer.

The slanting face I9 of floor I5 assures that the While, asaforedescribed, it is natural for a,

rabbit to utilize the toilet of the present invention, this utilizationmay be enhanced in the first instance by depositing some excreta in thereceiver, the rabbit then following another natural characteristic ofdepositing his excreta successively in the same place.

In the modification of the invention shown in Figs. '7 and 8, theconstruction of the toilet ,is similar to that previously describedexcept that the seat member H has an annular'fiange'22 which surroundsthe receiver I0, and a tongue 23 which fits in a groove24 formed in thewall l3 aof 'the receiver. Tongue 23 'and groove '24 assure .that. seatmember l I may properly be associated with receiver ill in only oneposition. Seat mem- :-ber H-has a slanting face I9 directed toward a:hole l8'.and the bottom wall I? of receiver -Ill .has a top face 25which slants in a reverse direction from the the face l9. Thus whenexcreta drops through hole l8 onto the face 25,

it flows ,or rolls away from the hole I8 so that a .pile does notiorrnunder hole l3 and block the entrance. of further excreta.

-While the toilet has been described in relation tocits operation as atoilet for use in a rabbit :hutch,-it may of course be employed as atoilet for other types of animals. It may be made of any suitablenon-porous material such as plastic,

.pottery, :glass or metal.

in the-appended claims.

Having thus describednmy invention, .what I claimas new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent, is: I

1. A-hygienic rabbit or animal toilet comprisingabottom waste containerhaving a floor. and

an upstanding circular wall, and an animal housv.ing receptacle having acircular animal concealing wall of the same approximate diameter as.the, circular wall of said waste. container, said receptacle having anopen top, said animal con- .cealing wall being provided with a narrowentrance way near one side and progressively increasing in height fromeach side of said entrance way to. a high. point opposite said entranceway,

.said .animal housing receptacle having a floor spaced above the floorof thewaste container and provided with a discharge opening for wastelocated adjacent to the high point of said animal concealing wall,whereby an animal will be caused to rest on said floor of said housingreceptacle with its head adjacent the entrance way and with its bodydischarge openings located adjacent the waste discharge opening of saidhousing receptacle floor, the animal housing receptacle being detachablymounted on the waste container and interlocked against accidentalseparation.

2. A hygienic toilet for rabbits and animals comprising a bottom wastecontainer having a floor and an upstanding circular wall, equally spaceddovetailed projections formed on the top edge of said circular wall, andan animal hous- 'ing receptacle having an open top and a floor seatingon said circular wall of said waste container, said floor of saidreceptacle being formed 5 in'its bottom face with equally spaceddovetailed grooves in which said dovetailed projections are received,said receptacle being formed with an .upstanding circular wall formedwith an entrance way in one side thereof and increasing progressivelyinheight from. each side of said entrance way to a high point oppositesaidentrance way, said. floor of said receptacle beingv sloped downward fromsaid entrance way and having a low point formed with a discharge holeadjacent the high point of the circular wallof said receptacle, thefloor of said receptacle being spaced above the floor of said wastecontainerso that waste dropping through said discharge hole will collectin the space between said fioors, each of said dovetailed groovescontinuing at one end into a recess into which said dovetailedprojections can be engaged byturning said receptacle relative to saidwaste container, whereby said receptacle can .be separated from saidcontainer to permit waste collected in said container to be spilledtherefrom byturning said receptacle relative to said contameraligningsaid dovetailed projections with .said recesses ireeing'saidreceptacle to be lifted off said container.

WILLIAM QUINN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references areof record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 843,850 Smidesang Feb. 12, 1907884,457 Boydelatour Apr.\-14,-1908 902,508 Rathborne Oct..27,1908921,669 Blake May11,1909

.1-:-,239,'Z04- Lee etal. Sept. 11,1917 1,813,329 Supplee July 7, 1931 19711708 Decker Aug. 28,1934 2,053,594 Albert Sept. 8, 1936 ..2=,182,-980 4 Bruzenak Dec. 12,1939 2,222,974 Bow Nov. 26, '1940 2,230,861Buehler Feb. 4, 1941 OTHER REFERENCES Popular Mechanics Magazine, page113,.De- .cember 1943.

